Judge: Sanford search warrants should be public, but will remain sealed until appeal

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A Minnehaha County judge has ruled that there is no basis to keep documents related to the child pornography investigation of banker and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford sealed.

Judge James Power said in his opinion filed Thursday that the affidavits which supported the search warrants in the investigation should be made public under South Dakota law.

But Power says he will keep them sealed until Sanford and his attorneys decide whether to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

The South Dakota attorney general’s office declined to file charges following the investigation, saying it found no “prosecutable offenses” within the state’s jurisdiction.